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THE PRINCIPLES INVOLViED IN THE REBELLION. 

si=5:b:boi3: 

O V T II E 

HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR, 

POSTMASTER-GRNERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. 

AT THE 

MASS MEETING OF THE 



LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE, 

IN UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK, 
ON THE 

ilNNIVERSARY OF THE ASSAULT ON SUMTER, 

-A-iDril 11, 1B63. 



N c U) |) r U : 

C. S. WE STCOTT c<k CO., PUINTERS, 

No. 79 John Street, 

1 8 G 3 . 





i 



THE PKINCIPLEK INVOLVED IN THE KEBELLtON. 

O F T II E 

FION. MONTGOMERY BLAIR, 

rOSTMASTEU-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A T THE 

MASS MEETING OF TPIE 

LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE, 

IN UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK, 
ON THE 

ANNIVERSARY. OF THE ASSAULT ON SUMTER, 



NctD |)or k : 

C . S . W E S T C O T T & C O . , PRINTERS, 

No. 79 John Street. 

1 8 G 3 . 



.3 



SP.EEOH 



HONORABLE MONTGOMERY BLAIR, 

POSTMASTER-GFiNERAL OF THE UiNITED STATES. 



Fei.low-Citizfas of Nkav York : I am gratified to meet so va?t an 
assemblage, and to unite with you in doing honor to the glorious cause 
which we have met here to pledge ourselves to support. This, my friends, 
is a most aj)propriate occasion upon which to renew our pledges to that 
flag which has come down to us with so many hallowed memories asso- 
ciated with the founders of this government. The day upon which an at- 
tempt was made to subvert this government is a day to be remembered ; 
it is SI day to be rememliered, and I hope, with the treatment which we are 
going to give the traitors, that we will make it to be remembered by them 
for eternity. [Cheers. " Good !"] The contest in which we arc engaged 
is a struggle for the great idea underlying our political fabric, and as we 
live in an age when opinion is the great element of power, it is essential 
to our success that the true nature of the struggle should l)e comprehended 
hj good men at home and abroad. Some reference to the; parties to it 
may contribute to effect this object. From the outset the oligarchic in- 
terest everywhere has been at no loss on which side to range itself. Every- 
where it has identified itself with the rebellion because it battled in the 
cause of privilege and against free government, and everywhere it has ex- 
erted itself promptly, yet skilfully, to support the rebel cause. Wielding 
vast power in all European governments, controlling the whole foreign 
press and some of our own, and assuming from the first mutterings of the 
tempest t!iat our ship of state was a wreck, as they had always predicted 
it would be, they have looked on only to find facts to sustain a foregone 
conclusion and otherwise to exert all the power they could wield to con- 
summate their wishes. I do not in thus speaking of this class, and espe- 
cially of the European branch of it, wish to be understood as impeaching 
their motives or questioning the sincerity of their conviction that, in the 
preservation of their own and kimlrcd orders, they nvc doing the best for 



mankmd. As Individuals, and especially is tins true of the Lntisli aus- 
SSracy they are distinguished by a high sense of honor hy courage 
ru Sne i and other manly qualities. But those personal characteristics 
only .e r e t'o ^ve more effect to a mistaken policy in antagonism to free- 
don^ 'and file Ve-ment, which results "--"^^ f^^^- ^^ ^Toi 
society to which thy are born and bred. Ihey .lustly feel that the con 
S^e^rLeh a ^vernment as ours saps the ^^^^^^^^^l^^Z 
d-iv bv day and hence, thongh we meddle not m their affairs tin. class has 
wm-red npJn us from the day we set up our democratic establishment m 
he w ds orAmerica. For the most part this war has been carried on in 
efi Idof opinion by writers hired to combat the natural yearnmg. of 
h^ human heart for liberty. We haye .replied only by continuing to 
mTnisrto human happiness! giying free homes to the oppressed eleyating 
the poor by instruction in free schools, and by havmg the gospel preached 
t. Mil creeds. There was one point, however, upon which -ery lettei- 
writer and book-making tourist who catered to the appetite of the estab 
Shed orders for Amerkan disparagen.ent failed not to comment w^h tie 
greatest harshness. That was, that we tolerated African '^^'-^'J ' ^l^l 
ter have been these denunciations that many persons -'Pl-f^^^';;^;^^/^^,^ 
war broke out, that the English aristocrat, for once would l^a^e to be on 
the side of those who were struggling for free_ government. Jai fioin it 
Like most of those among us who are now siguahzing themselye by de 
nouncing the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, the conscrip on act 
&c thefr advocacy of freedom was, as we now see, only to seive the 
cau'se of 'la^-ery. It was for the freedom we cherished, notfor the slavery 
we tolerated, they reviled us. See these proud aristocrats now arming . 
Z .lave-dri;-ers at Richmond with iron-clad ships to strike down freedom, 
foro-etting even the insults olfered a few years siiu^e by their l^-esent allies- 
the^Kichmond snobbery- to the heir apparent of the ^-^^^^-^^^^^^ 
do not suppose that by pointing to the evidences of sympathy and alliance 
between t^Jese domestic Ld foix^ign foes of free government I seek o s ir 
you to wrath against England. Far from it; for while it is e 
fbat in all essentials the British peer and our vulgar Mason, and 
Slidells, and the silly women who insult Umon soldiers, are the 
^vme order of people, differing only in cultivation^ and externa^ circum- 
stances, but agreeing in the distinguishing characteristic of luwing o faith 
in humanity, yet you must remember that these worldhngs do not lule 
c"t "r in Zohvu.l or America. Despite of their opposition, slavery was 
stnu-i down in the B.ritish realm, and despite of them the great Kepubl.c 
will be saved, and the slave machinery applied to subvert it destroyed 1 
feel assured of this, because not only our own people, but the people ot 
Europe, are begimiing to understand, what I have .«.id the aristocrats ev- 
Ji-ywhei-e have'lmderstood from the first, that this is u battle ^^ ^^-^ 
v,oople throughout the world, and that they now are, or soon will ^'f; V;"'^ 
o make common cause for freedom against the wide-spread conspnacy o 
^is oa-ats to destroy it. It is true that Lord Lyons tells us g'--;»- 
that our "domocradc leaders' came stealthily to Inm, and made knmu 
tl,cir wish and purpose " to put an end to the war, even ^^ the usk ot 
;;":;the southern states altogether," but "that it was not tl-ug^^-; 
dont to av.)W this desire, and that some Innts of it, dropped befoitu. 
,.loctions, were so ill received, that a strong .lerlaralion m a, contrarj sense 



Was deemed necessary by the democratic leaders." Lord Lyons further 
states that these democratic " leaders'' thought " that the offer of media- 
tion, if made to a radical administration, would be rejected ; that if made 
at an unpropitious moment, it might increase the virulence with which the 
war is prosecuted. If their own party were in power, or virtually con- 
trolled the administration, they would rather, if possible, obtain an armis- 
tice Avithout the aid of foreign governments ; but they would be disposed 
to accept an offer of mediation if it appeared to be the only means of put- 
ting a stop to hostilities. They would desire that the offer should come 
from the great powers of Europe conjointly ; and in particular, tliat as 
little prominence as possible should be given to Grreat Britain." This is 
the sum of his lordship's revelations ; and if it were not that he entirely 
mistakes the character and influence of his men, they might be ominous of 
the result which he and the J5ritish ministry so confidently predict and 
devoutly wish. If the "chiefs" whom he describes as " calling loudly for 
a more vigorous prosecution of the war, and reproaching the government 
with slackness as well as with want of success in its military measures," 
but telling him that it was their wish " to put an end to it at the risk of 
losing the Southern states altogether," Avere really as able as he supposes 
they are, to bring the true democracy of the North to adopt the plans of 
the secessionists for the extension of slavery, to make it the foundation of 
the political institutions of the country, or to assent to the division of the 
country — -resigning one half of it to slavery — then, indeed, might the ene- 
mies of popular government indulge their fond hope that the bright pros- 
pects which opened on the birth-day of free institutions in the New World, 
and have attended its progress to this hour, would soon close. But it is 
apparent, even from the narrative of the worthy and truly honorable rep- 
resentative of England, that " the leaders" who conferred with him were 
conscious that they could not lead their party to sanction their purposes, 
that they were forced to disavow them, and advised postponement of the 
offer of mediation till theij should come into power, which they only hoped 
to secure by '' calling loudly for a more vigorous prosecution of the 
war, and reproaching the government with slackness as well as with Avant 
of success in its military measures" ! But the immense popular assend^lies 
which have everyAvhere denounced mediation of any sort, show that no 
such jugglery would avaih The most distinguished leaders of tiie democ- 
racy in this great common\A^ealth attended the vast meeting of the 6th of 
March. They are here again to-night. They unite in council with the 
members of the republican party, Avith the chiefs of the old Avhig party, 
with those of the original anti-slavery party, Avith the American party, 
peculiarly jealous of foreign influence, and with those of other strong 
classes, Avhich embrace, with a sort of kindred sympathy, the naturalized 
citizens of all Europe, as brothei's enfranchized from feudal fetteis, and ri- 
sing here to usefulness and influence as the equals of the native born free- 
man. Every party and every class by Avhom free institutions are held dear 
in this country, merging all minor dillerences of o[)inion, arc gatliering in 
every quarter to devise measures to restore the nationality and secure tlie lib- 
erties of the country; and to give effect to these, the sliouts of battle 
from a million of brave men are lieard by land and sea. Tliey see the 
feudal lords Avho hold th^ slaves in the South in bondage, to raise 
the commodities on which the laborers of the feudal lords in Ein'ope 



6 



fire to exhaust their energies to exalt tlieir privileged orders, are sup-^ 
ported by such orders because of a common interest in the enslave- 
ment of mankind. And if the vassalage which holds the black race 
as mere animated machines, and is rapidly reducing the poor whites of the 
South to a dependence and suffering, rendering the fate of the slave of a 
kind master enviable — if such vassalage is to be upheld by the great mod- 
ern dynasties abroad, combining their military power to give support to 
the despotic principle in a nation separated from them by the ocean, how 
long will it be before such armed usurpation here will, by its reactionary- 
force, recover the arbitrary power that belonged to the age of the Bour- 
bons, the Tudors, and of that horde of feudal proprietors who monopolized 
the soil, holding the people as serfs appurtenant to the domain of masters, 
rising as a superstructure of oppression through grades from barons, counts, 
dukes, princes, and emperors to autocrats ! Our Southern chivalry, which 
but a generation back, signed our Magna Charta of liberty and ecpiality, 
in the course of cue lifetime, by the indoctrination of tlie slave system, 
working on one poor oppressed caste, are always prepared to join the Holy 
Alliance abroad in making a partition of this continent, and setting up 
dynasties deriving their type from the Congress of Vienna, and they have 
an imj)roved feature on the old feudal system, tending to reinvigorate it. 
In that state which led off in the assault upon the Union, the ownership 
of ten slaves, or an equivalent, was an essential qualification for a legisla- 
tor. Carrying out this principle, the Confederate Congress has decreed, 
that twenty slaves shall exempt the master from military service. This 
will operate as a premium for multiplying slaves, and divide the commu- 
nity into two great classes, the producers and the soldiery ; creating a mili- 
tary govermiient, one portion of the people to fight, the other to feed the 
fighters. Tlie starveling whites not suited to war, and not subjected as 
soldiers, will become slaves to the owners of estates on whom they must 
depend. That the crowned heads of Europe, who are invited to make 
the political constitutions of this continent, as well as its cotton, their 
concern, should have a disposition to admit states into the Holy Alliance 
which give such earnest hostility to free government, is not unnatural. 
l>iit what will the more enlightened portion of the European population 
think of this conbination with slaveholders to extirpate liberty in America? 
The organs of the privileged orders in Great liritain, the Qnarlcriy Re- 
view, The TiniC!>, &c., already congratulate their patrons on the fact that 
reljcllion here has arrested Reform in England. They jjroclaini that 
Lords Palmerston and Russell reached their power in Enghmd by iiledgca 
of reform, and now they rejoice that the J?ebellion has exonerated tliem 
from their obligation ! They would now, for the third time, attempt to 
crush the free principles which, nurtured here beyond the reach of despotic 
coalitions, has attained a prosperity, spreading an infiuence back to the 
country of their origin, reforming their government and elevating their 
penple ; and it is in the interest of the selfish few that the progress of na- 
tions in reform, in freedom and happiness, is to be arrested. Is it possible 
that a great war, waged by the potentates of Europe, in alliance with the 
slave system ])r()])agated in the South, against the tree states of America, 
will be cordially su[)ported by the sid)slaiitial, intelligent body of the Euro- 
pean populations ? Can Lord Lyons pei-suadc himself or them that there 
are democratic leaders in the free states, capable of drawing the denmcratie 



masses to join foreign powers in mediating a peace diviJing the empire of 
free government on this continent with slavery, European sovereigns to 
hold the balance of the continent ? No patriot, no honest man of any 
party, no democrat of influence with a party which has never been want- 
ing to the country when its fortunes hung upon the scale of battle, could 
have made the questions which were submitted to Lord Lyons, Davis, 
Benjamin, Floyd, and Toombs, call themselves democrats. Their emissa- 
ries in Europe, Slidell, Sanders, and Mason, call themselves democrats. 
Their creatures in the free states, Buchanan, Touccy, and the subaltern 
traitors associated with them, spared by the clemency of the administra- 
tion, call themselves democrats. But these men in the North are only 
80 many men on gibbets. The real democrats everywhere are with 
the real republicans, in arms for their country and its Constitution. It 
is not the interest of nations to destroy each otlier, and I hope no nation 
will interpose in any way to countenance the treason which has no object 
but the overthrow of republican institutions. The only effect would be 
to embittor and prolong the strife. England, especially, which has some 
consciousness of the value of such institutions, and has evinced a full 
sense of the miscluef of the slave power now seeking her help to sacrifice 
them here, will, I doubt not, recoil from the leprous touch. There was a 
time, indeed, when even that very class of Englishmen who would now 
see the Great Eepublic fall with so much satisfliction, looked toward it with 
very different feelings. It was when they apprehended invasion from France. 
Then the free states of this continent, proud of their race and of the inspira- 
tion, responded to the patriotic heart of Britain. They did not intend 
to be passive while " the Latin race" established their ascendency in the fa- 
therland. At that great crisis English statesmen recognized the value of this 
kindred sympathy, and honored the magnanimity which, forgetting the op- 
pression dealt to us as an infant people aspiring to equality with their brethren 
beyond the Atlantic, remembering only the glory of a common lineage, lan- 
guage, and literature. They felt, and with reason, that the mutual ablior- 
rence of slavery, in whatever form imposed, would induce the government 
of the United States to make common cause with England against any 
attempt to invade or enslave her. But now that their apprehensions 
of danger from across the chaunel are, for the time, allayed, and they feel 
no present need of help, the feeling for America, which for a moment ex- 
panded tlie hearts even of the English lordlings, has passed away. They 
have become as earnest as in '76 to overthrow our government, and are 
co-operating with the rebels, as with the tories, in every possible way, 
short of declared war, and have clearly evinced their disposition to take 
even that step whenever we will give them a pretext for it, which will carry 
the people of England with them. We cannot, tlierefore, be too careful 
not to furnish the desired pretext, especially when the people of Europe, as 
well as of America, are awakening to their interest in this struggle. We 
liad better suffer for a time from the pirates set afloat in England, and har- 
bored and provisioned in their West India possessions, to devastate our 
commerce, to enable the English nation to put a stop to these outi'ages. 
I have confidence that they will do it, and I much prefer the mode adopted 
by the real noblemen of New York, to touch the hearts of the real nobility 
of England — the men who love truth and justice — to whom alone slie owes 
her greatness among the nations of the earth — to that proposed by my friend. 



General Butler. To send the starving poor of England cargoes of food, 
while her aristocrats are turning loose upon us piratical vessels, tells more 
than woi'ds can express of the nature of this struggle, and who are allies in 
it. I will venture to affirm, that the mediating leaders who visited the 
British minister in November, are not among those who, while exhibiting 
such munificence toward his countrymen, were lavishing millions to sus- 
tain free government, although most of them are democrats. The rebel- 
lion here, this reactionary measure against free government, reacts across 
the water, stops all progress, all beneficence and reform for the people of 
Eiu'ope. That is the nature of this contest. You cannot, therefore, if 
you love yourselves, your rights, and the rights of those whom you are to 
leave behind you ; if you love your brothers in fiitherland, and wish to have 
an asylum for them, and to extend the principles of liberty in the old con- 
tinent, you cannot but stand up for the government you have installed 
here, regardless for the moment of whom you have placed in power. I am 
a member, as my friend said, of the existing government, and I say to you 
here, although its measures may not meet the approval of some of you, 
yet, rely upon it, you have as honest a man as ever God made installed in 
the chair of the Chief Magistrate. [Loud applause.] We have a man 
from the people, like many of those I see before me, having a heart s}'m- 
pathetic for the masses j a man working his way from an humble and ob- 
scure position, up to the elevated position that he now tills ; and, of course, 
he feels and feels deeply, as one of you, the nature of the struggle that 1 
have been endeavoring to paint. You must support him, my friends. It 
is your cause ; not his. [Three cheers for the President.] Thanking you 
again, my friends, for the cordiality and kindness with which you have 
been pleased to receive me, I give way to others who can add much to 
vv^hal I liave said, and say it better. [Prolonged cheers.] 



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